History of Beijing

The city of Beijing has a long and rich history that dates back over 3,000 years.^[1] Prior to the unification of China by the First Emperor in 221 B.C., Beijing was for centuries the capital of the ancient state of Yan. During the first millennia of imperial rule, Beijing was but a provincial city in northern China. Its stature grew in the 10th to the 13th centuries when the nomadic Khitan and Jurchen peoples from the steppes expanded into northern China, and made the city a capital of their dynasties, the Liao and Jin. When Kublai Khan made Dadu the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), all of China was ruled from Beijing for the first time. From this time onward, with the exception of two interludes from 1368 to 1421 and 1928 to 1949, Beijng would remain as China's capital, serving as the seat of power for the Ming (1421-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties, the early Republic of China (1912-1928) and now the People's Republic of China (1949 - present).

Prehistory

UNESCO World Heritage Site of Beijing

The Upper Cave on Dragon Bone Hill in Zhoukoudian where remains of the Peking Man were found.

The earliest remains of hominid habitation in Beijing Municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where the Homo erectus Peking Man (Sinanthropus pekinensis) lived from 770,000 to 230,000 years ago.^[2]

Paleolithic homo sapiens also lived in the caves from about 27,000 to 10,000 years ago.^[3] Archaeologists have found neolithic settlements throughout the plains of Beijing from Xiaoniantou and Shangzhai Village in Pinggu County in the east to Xueshan Village in Changping District in the north, and Zhenjiangying in Fangshan District in the southwest.^[4] These sites indicate that farming was widespread in the area 6,000 to 7,000 years ago.

Pre-Imperial History

Beijing is first mentioned in history in the chronicles of the Zhou Dynasty's conquest of the Shang Dynasty in the 11th Century B.C. According to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, King Wu of Zhou, in the 11th year of his reign, deposed the last Shang king and conferred titles of nobility to the local rulers within his domain. Among them were the rulers of the city states Ji (蓟/薊) and Yan (燕).^[5] The walled City of Ji or Jicheng (蓟城/薊城) was located in the southwestern part of present-day Beijing, just south of Guang'anmen in Xuanwu and Fengtai Districts. According to Confucius, the rulers of Ji were descendants of the Yellow Emperor.^[6] Some time during the late Western Zhou or early Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Ji was absorbed by neighboring Yan, which made the City of Ji, its capital.

For several centuries before the unification of China in 221 B.C., Beijing was the capital of the State of Yan. Bronze Yan helmet (above), sword-shaped Yan coins (right), and the Gefujia yun (far right), all from the Capital Museum.

This bronze vessel used for steaming was unearthed from the Liulihe site in Fangshan District.

Yan was previously based to the south of Ji, in the village of Dongjialin in Liulihe Township of Fangshan District, where a large walled settlement and over 200 tombs of nobility have been unearthed.^[7] Among the most significant artifacts from the Liulihe site is a bronze ding with inscriptions that recount the journey of the eldest son of the Duke of Yan who delivered offerings to the King of Zhou in present-day Xi'an, and was awarded a position in the king's court.^[8] Both Yan and Ji were located along an important north-south trade route along the eastern flank of the Taihang Mountains from the Central Plain to the northern steppes. Ji, located just north of the Yongding River, was a convenient resting stop for trade caravans. Here, the route to the northwest through the mountain passes diverged from the road to the northeast. Ji also had a steady water supply from the nearby Lotus Pond, which still exists south of the Beijing West Railway Station. Yan's old capital relied on the more seasonal flow of the Liuli River. Perhaps for these reasons, Yan chose to move its capital to Ji, which remains to be known as Jicheng or the City of Ji. Due to its historical association with the State of Yan, the city of Beijing is also called Yanjing (燕京) or "Yan Capital".

The State of Yan would continue to expand until it became one of the seven major powers during the Warring States Period (473-221 BC).^[9] It stretched from the Yellow River to the Yalu.^[10] Historical records show that the Yan capital was a wealthy city with at least two palaces. In 284 B.C., the victorious Yan general Yue Yi, having conquered 70 cities of neighboring Qi, wrote to Duke of Yan to report that he had enough booty to fill two palaces and planned to bring home a new tree species to plant on the Hill of Ji, north of the city. The hill mentioned in the letter is believed to be the mound at the White Cloud Abbey, outside Xibianmen in Xicheng District. Like subsequent rulers of Beijing, the Yan also faced the threat of invasions by steppe nomads, and built walled fortifications across its northern frontier. The Yan walls were located in modern-day Inner Mongolia and Liaoning Province, more than 100km north of the Ming wall that currently stretch across northern Beijing.

In 216 B.C., the City of Ji fell to the invading State of Qin and the State of Yan was forced to move its capital to Liaodong.^[11] The Qin eventually ended Yan in 222 B.C. The following year, the ruler of Qin, having conquered all the other states, declared himself to be the First Emperor.

Early Imperial History

The Tanzhe Temple in Western Hills was first established in 307

During the first one thousand years of Chinese imperial history, Beijing was a provincial city on the northern periphery of China proper. The Qin Dynasty built a highly centralized state and divided the country into 48 commandaries (jun), two of which are located in present-day Beijing. The City of Ji became the seat of Guangyang Commandary (广阳郡/廣陽郡). To the north, in present-day Miyun County, was Yuyang Commandary. The Han Dynasty, which replaced the short-lived Qin, initially relaxed the strict centralized rule of its predecessor. It restored some local autonomy and the City of Ji became the State of Guangyang (广阳国/廣陽國). In 106 B.C., under Han Emperor Wudi, the country was reorganized into 13 prefectural-provinces (zhou 州), and Ji served as the prefectural capital for Youzhou (幽州). The tomb of Liu Jian, a Han royal who ruled Youzhou as the Prince of Guangyang from 73-45 B.C., is preserved in the Dabaotai Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum in Fengtai District.^[12] During the Three Kingdoms, the Kingdom of Wei controlled ten of the Han Dynasty's prefectures including Youzhou and its capital Ji. Ji was demoted to a mere county-seat in the Western Jin Dynasty (晋), which made neighboring Zhuo County (in present day Hebei Province), the prefectural capital for Youzhou. The Tanzhe Temple in the Western Hills of Beijing was built in 307 A.D.

After 304 A.D., the Western Jin Dynasty was overthrown by steppe peoples who had settled in northern China and established about sixteen short-lived kingdoms. During this period, Beijing was controlled successively by the Di-led Former Qin, the Jie-led Later Zhao, the Xianbei-led Former Yan and Later Yan. The Northern Wei, another Xianbei regime, eventually united northern China in 386 A.D., and restored Ji as the capital of Youzhou. With the creation of a separate prefecture called Jizhou (蓟州) in present-day Tianjin in 370 A.D., however, the name Ji was transplanted from Beijing to Tianjin, where a Ji County (蓟县) still exists today. In Beijing, the City of Ji gradually became synonymous with Youzhou. This designation continued through the Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, Sui and Tang Dynasties.

The Fayuan Temple in Xuanwu District was first established by Tang Emperor Li Shimin in 645

After the Sui dynasty reunited China in 589 A.D., the Emperor Yang of Sui built a network of canals from the Central Plain to Youzhou to carry troops and food for the massive military campaigns against Goguryeo (Korea). Though the campaigns proved to be ruinous, they were continued by the Tang Dynasty. In 645 A.D., the Tang Emperor Taizong built the Fayuan Temple 3 km southeast of Youzhou to remember the war dead from the Korean Campaigns. The Fayuan Temple, now within Xuanwu District, is one of the oldest temples in urban Beijing.

The Tang Dynasty reduced the size of a prefecture as an administrative from a province to a commandary. Youzhou was one of over 300 Tang Prefectures.^[13] In 742, Youzhou was briefly renamed Fanyang Commandary (范阳郡), but reverted back to Youzhou in 758. To guard against barbarian invasions, the imperial court arranged six frontier military commands in 711 A.D, and Youzhou became the headquarter of the Fanyang Jiedushi, who was tasked to monitor the Khitan and Xi nomads just north of present-day Hebei Province. In 755, the local commander An Lushan, launched a rebellion from Youzhou after losing a power struggle in the imperial court. He declared himself the emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty and went on to conquer Luoyang and Xi'an. The An Shi Rebellion lasted ten years and severely weakened the Tang dynasty. It also paved the way for Khitan expansion into northern China, which prompted the rise of Beijing in Chinese history.

After the demise of the Tang Dynasty fell in 907, China was divided into ten kingdoms, mostly in the south, and five short-lived dynasties in the north.^[14] One of these dynasties, Later Jin Dynasty (936-947), a weak regime led by Shatuo Turk Shi Jingtang, ceded a large part of the northern frontier across present-day Hebei and Shanxi Provinces, including Youzhou (modern Beijing) to the Khitan in exchange for military support.

Liao and Jin Dynasties

Pagoda of Tianning Temple, built from 1100-1119

Though Beijing was but a peripheral city to Chinese dynasties centered in Luoyang and Xi'an, it was to the nomads, an important entryway into China. The city's stature grew from the 10th Century with successive invasions of China by Khitan, Jurchen and Mongols. In 938, the ascendant Khitan having unified the steppes founded the Liao Dynasty.^[15] It elevated Youzhou to be one of its four secondary capitals, renaming it Nanjing (南京) or the "Southern Capital". Thus, the City of Ji, ceded to the Liao as Youzhou, continued as Nanjing in what is today the southwest part of urban Beijing. Some of the oldest landmarks in Xuanwu and Fengtai Districts date to the Liao era. They include Sanmiao Road, one of the oldest streets in Beijing^[16] and the Niujie Mosque, first established in 996, and the Tianning Temple, built from 1100-1119.

The Song Dynasty, after unifying the rest of China in 960, sought to recapture the lost northern territories. Song Emperor Taizong personally led a military expedition that reached Youzhou in 979, and laid siege to the city. The city's walls, some 16 km in circumference withstood the siege for three months. Defenders were bolstered by Khitan reinforcements who were able burrow under the Song siege and into the city itself. A large Liao reinforcement arrived and defeated the Song Army in the decisive Battle of Gaoliang River, just northwest of present-day Xizhimen. After this defeat, the Song was never again able to mount another challenge to retake the natural defensive barriers in northern China and was left vulnerable to successive nomadic incursions into the Central Plain.

While the Liao kept the Song dynasty out of northern China, it could not stop a more powerful nomadic tribe from further north. The Jurchens, from present-day Manchuria, swept south, drove the Liao to Central Asia, and founded the Jin (金) Dynasty in 1125. The Jin initially named the Liao's southern capital, Yanjing, but in 1153, Jin Emperor Wanyan Liang moved his capital from Shangjing (near present-day Harbin) to the city, which was renamed Zhongdu (中都) or the "Central Capital."^[9] For the first time in its history, the city of Beijing became a political capital of a major dynasty.

The Lugou Bridge, first built in 1189, dates to the Jin Dynasty

The Jin expanded the city to the west, east, and south, doubling its size. On today's map of urban Beijing, the Zhongdu would extends from Xuanwumen in the northeast to the Beijing West Railway Station to the west, and south to beyond the southern 2nd Ring Road. The walled city had 13 gates, four in the north and three openings in each of the other sides. Remnants of Zhongdu city walls are preserved in Fengtai District.^[17] The Jin emphasized the centrality of the regime by placing the walled palace complex near the center of Zhongdu. It was situated south of present-day Guang'anmen and north of the Grand View Garden.^[18] Paper money was first issued in Beijing during the Jin.^[19] The Lugou Bridge, over the Yongding River southwest of the city, was built in 1189. Zhongdu served as the Jin capital for more than 60 years, until the onslaught of the Mongols forced the Jin court to move south to Kaifeng in 1214.^[20]

Yuan Dynasty

The White Dagoba on Qionghua Island in the Beihai Park, one of the earliest imperial gardens in Beijing. On his first visit to Beijing in 1261, Kublai Khan stayed on this island. He liked the surroundings and ordered that the new capital to be built around the island.

In 1215, the tenth year of the reign of Genghis Khan, Mongol forces sacked Zhongdu, which was again named Yanjing. Just as the Jurchens had risen from the steppes and displaced the Khitan Liao, so too had the Mongols who emerged out of southern Siberia and destroyed the Jurchen Jin in 1234. Much of the old Zhongdu, including the imperial palace, lay in ruin when Kublai Khan visited the city for the first time in 1261.^[21] He stayed in the Taining Palace located on Qionghua Island in the Gaoliang River northeast of Zhongdu.^[22] The palace was built by the Jin in in 1179 as a country retreat, much like the later Summer Palace of the Qing.^[23] Unlike other Mongol leaders who wanted to retain the traditional tribal confederation based in Karakorum, Kublai Khan was eager to become the emperor of a cosmopolitan empire. He spent the next four years waging and winning a civil war against rival Mongol chieftains, and in 1264 ordered advisor Liu Bingzhong to build his new capital at Yanjing. In 1260, he had already begun construction of his capital at Xanadu, some 275 km due north of Beijing on the Luan River in present-day Inner Mongolia, but he preferred the location of Beijing. With the North China Plain opening to the south and the steppes just beyond the mountain passes to the north, Beijing was an ideal midway point for Kublai Khan's new seat of power. In 1271, he declared the creation of the Yuan Dynasty and named his capital Dadu (大都, Chinese for "Grand Capital",^[1] or Daidu to the Mongols^[24]). It is also known by the Mongol name Khanbaliq (汗八里), spelled Cambuluc in Marco Polo's accounts. After the construction of Dadu, Xanadu, also known as Shangdu, became Kublai Khan's summer capital.

Map of Dadu showing the outer city walls (black) and imperial city (red), partial outline of Zhongdu (dashed green) and the extent of the Ming-Qing city (grey). The Gaoliang River was made into a string of lakes and drained by the Tonghui Channel to the south.

The Beijing Drum Tower, first built in 1272, marked the geographic center of Dadu. Di'anmen Avenue still forms part of the city's north-south central axis.

Rather than continuing on the foundation of Zhongdu, the new capital Dadu was shifted to the northeast and built around the old Taining Palace on Qionghua Island in the middle of the Gaoliang River. This move set in place Beijing's current north-south central axis. Dadu was nearly twice the size of Zhongdu. It stretched from present-day Chang'an Avenue in the south to the earthen Dadu city walls that still stand in northern and northeastern Beijing, between the 3rd and 4th Ring Roads.^[25] The city had earthen walls 24 m thick and 11 city gates, two in the north and three each in the other cardinal directions. Later, the Ming Dynasty lined portions of Dadu's eastern and western walls with brick and reused four of their gates. Thus, Dadu had the same width as the Beijing of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The geographic center of the Dadu was marked with a pavilion, which is now the Drum Tower.

The most striking physical feature of Dadu is the string of lakes in the heart of the city. These lakes were created from the Gaoliang River inside the city. They are now known as the six seas ("hai") of central Beijing: Houhai, Qianhai and Xihai (the Rear, Front, and West Seas) which are collectively known as Shichahai, Beihai (North Sea) Park, and the Zhongnanhai (South Central Seas) compound. Qionghua Island is now the island in Beihai Park on which the White Dagoba stands. Like today's Chinese leaders, the Yuan imperial family lived west of the lakes in the Xingsheng and Longfu Palaces.^[26] A third palace east of the lakes, called the Danei, in the location of the Forbidden City, housed the imperial offices. The city's construction drew builders from all over the Mongols' Asian empire, including local Chinese as well as those from places such as Nepal and Central Asia.^[27] Liu Bingzhong was appointed as the supervisor of the construction of the imperial city and a chief architect was Yeheidie'erding. The pavilions of the palaces took on various architectural styles from across the empire. The entire palace complex occupied the south central portion of Dadu. Following Chinese tradition, the temples for ancestral rites and harvest rites were built, respectfully, to west and east of the palace.^[28]

The Confucius Temple of Beijing, built in 1302, is among the grandest Confucius temples in China

The inclusion of the Gaoliang River in the city gave Dadu a larger supply of water than the Lotus Pool which had nourished Ji, Youzhou and Nanjing for the previous two thousand years. To boost water supply even more, Yuan hydrologist Guo Shoujing built channels to draw spring water from the Yuquan Mountain in the northwest through what is today the Kunming Lake of the Summer Palace through the Purple Bamboo Park to Jishuitan, which was a large reservoir inside Dadu.^[29] The expansion and extension of the Grand Canal from Dadu to Hangzhou enabled the city to import greater volumes of grain to sustain a larger population.

The city's residential districts were laid out in a checkerboard pattern divided by avenues 25 m in width and narrow alleyways, called hutongs, 6-7 m wide.^[30] One of the best surviving examples of such a district is Dongsi, which has 12 parallel hutongs, called the 12 tiao of Dongsi. The name hutong is unique to Yuan-era city. In older neighborhoods that date to the Liao and Jin eras, narrow lanes are still called jie or streets. Each of the large avenues had underground sewers which carried rain and refuse to the south of the city.^[31] The main markets were located in Dongsi, Xisi and the north shore of Jishuitan.^[32]

Construction of Dadu began in in 1267 and the first palace was finished the next year. The entire palace complex was completed in 1274 and the rest of the city by 1285.^[33] In 1279, when Mongol armies finished off the last of the Song Dynasty in southern China, Beijing became for the first time, the capital of the whole of China.

As Kublai Khan had intended, the city was a showcase of the cosmopolitan Yuan Empire. A number of foreign travelers including Giovanni di Monte Corvino, Odoric of Pordenone, Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta left written accounts of their visits to the city. Some of the most famous writers of the Yuan era, including Ma Zhiyuan, Guan Hanqing, and Wang Shifu, lived in Dadu. The Mongols commissioned the building of an Islamic observatory and Islamic academy. The White Stupa Temple near Fuchengmen was commissioned by Kublai Khan in 1271. With its famous white stupa designed by the Nepali Araniko, it remains one of the biggest stupas in China.^[34]

Ming Dynasty

The Yongle Emperor moved the capital of the Ming Dynasty from Nanjing to Beijing in 1421. He commissioned the Forbidden City, which was built from 1406 to 1420.

The Beijing Palace City Scroll, depicting the Forbidden City, 15th century.

In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing and his general Xu Da captured Dadu. The last Yuan court fled to Shangdu and the city of Beijing returned to Chinese for the first time since 936 A.D. The Yuan imperial palace was razed and the city was renamed Beiping (北平 or "Northern Peace").^[35] Nanjing, also known as Yingtian Fu became the Jingshi or the capital of the new dynasty. Two years later, the founding Hongwu Emperor, conferred Beiping to his fourth son, Zhu Di, who at the age of ten became the Prince of Yan. Zhu Di did not move to Beiping until 1370 but quickly built up his military power in defense of the northern frontier. The Hongwu Emperor was predeceased by his three eldest sons, and when he died in 1398, the throne was passed down to Zhu Yunwen, the heir of his crown prince. The new emperor sought to curtail his uncle's power in Beiping, and a bitter power struggle ensued. In 1402, after a four year civil war, Zhu Di seized Nanjing and declared himself the Yongle Emperor. As the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he was not content to stay in Nanjing. He executed hundreds in Nanjing for remaining loyal to his predecessor, who was reportedly killed in a palace fire but was rumored to have escaped. The Yongle Emperor sent his enunch Zheng He on the famed voyages overseas in part to investigate the rumors of the Jianwen Emperor abroad.

In 1403, the Yongle Emperor renamed his home base, Beijing, (北京, or the "Northern Capital") and elevated the city to the status of centrally-administered city, on par with Nanjing. For the first time, Beijing took on its modern name, though it was also known as Shuntian Fu (顺天府). From 1403 to 1421, Yongle prepared Beijing to be his new capital with a massive reconstruction program. Most Beijing's most iconic historical buildings today, including the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, were built for Yongle's capital. In 1421, Yongle moved the Jingshi of the Ming to Beijing, which made Beijing the main capital of the Ming dynasty. The move to the north also enabled the Ming regime to pay closer heed to the defense of the north against the Mongols. Most of the Great Wall in northern Beijing Municipality were built during the Ming Dynasty.

Plan of Beijing showing the Forbidden City inside the Imperial City, as well as the Inner and Outer Cities.

Much of the Ming city walls were torn down in the 1960s. The Zhengyang Gate (Qianmen) and its iconic archery tower is one of the few sections remaining.

The Ming city wall's south-eastern corner tower is another remaining section

UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Beijing

Jinshanling section of the Great Wall of China

The moat of the Forbidden City

The Temple of Heaven

Ming Dynasty Tombs

During the early Ming dynasty, the northern part of old Dadu was depopulated and abandoned. The northern wall of the Ming city was built 2.5 km to the south. The southern wall of the city was moved half a kilometer to the south. These changes finalized the inner city of Beijing, which had 12 gates (two to the north, four to the south and three each to the east and west). These walls withstood a major test following the Tumu Crisis of 1449 when the Zhengtong Emperor was captured by Oirat Mongols during a military campaign near Huailai. The Oirat chieftain, Esen Tayisi, then drove through the Great Wall and marched on the Ming capital with the captive emperor in hand. Defense Minister Yu Qian rejected Esen's demands for ransom despite the emperor's pleadings. Yu said the responsibility to protect the country took precedence over the emperor's life. He rejected calls by other officials to capital to the South. Instead, Zhengtong's younger half-brother was elevated to the throne, and 220,000 troops were assembled to defend the city. Ming forces with firearms and artillery ambushed the Mongol cavalry outside Deshengmen, killing Esen's brother in the barrage, and repelled another attack on Xizhimen. Esen retreated to retreated to Mongolia and three years later, returned the captive emperor, with no ransom paid. In 1457, the Zhengtong Emperor reclaimed the throne and had Yu Qian executed for treason. Yu Qian's home near Dongdan was later made into a temple in his honor.^[36]

In 1550, Altan Khan led a Khalkha Mongol raid on Beijing that pillaged the northern suburbs but did not attempt to take the city. To protect the city's southern suburbs, including neighborhoods from the Liao and Jin-eras as well as the Temple of Heaven, the outer city wall was built in 1553. The outer city wall had five gates, three to the south and one each to the east and west. The inner and outer Ming city walls stood until in the 1960s when they were pulled down to build the Beijing Subway and the 2nd Ring Road.^[37]

It is believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world from 1425 to 1650 and from 1710 to 1825.^[38] To feed the growing population, Ming authorities built granaries known as the Jingtong storehouses near the terminus of the Grand Canal. The government administered the granaries, which fed a growing population and sustained the military. The granaries helped to control prices and prevent inflation, but as the population grew and demand for food exceeded supply, price controls became less effective.

The Wanping Fortress (background), constructed in 1638-1640, before the fall of Ming Dynasty

Before the mid-15th century, Beijing residents relied on wood for heating and cooking. However, a population boom quickly led to a massive logging of the forests around the city, and by the mid-15th century the forests had largely disappeared. As a substitute, residents began to use coal, which was mined in the Western Hills. The use of coal caused many environmental problems and changed the ecological system around the city.

During the Ming dynasty, 15 epidemic outbreaks occurred in the city of Beijing, including smallpox, "pimple plague," and "vomit blood plague" - the latter two were possibly bubonic plague and pneumonic plague. In most cases, the public health system functioned well in gaining control of the outbreaks, except in 1643. That year, epidemics claimed 200,000 lives in Beijing, thus compromising the defense of the city from the attacks of the peasant rebels and contributing to the downfall of the Ming dynasty.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, banditry was common near Beijing despite the presence of imperial government. Due to inadequate supervision and economic privation, imperial troops in the capital region to protect the throne would often turn to brigandage. Officials responsible for eradicating banditry often had ties to brigands and other marginal elements of Ming society.^[39]

The panorama painting "Departure Herald", painted during the reign of the Xuande Emperor (1425-1435 AD), shows the emperor traveling on horseback with a large escort through the countryside from Beijing's Imperial City to the Ming Dynasty tombs. Beginning with Yongle, thirteen Ming emperors were buried in the Ming Tombs of present-day Changping District.

Qing Dynasty

A pavilion and stone arch in the Old Summer Palace

In 1644, Li Zicheng led a major peasant uprising against the Ming Dynasty. He besieged and briefly captured the city of Beijing. The Manchu from the north took advantage of this rebellion, breeching the nearby Great Wall, and capturing the city from rebel control. The Manchus proclaimed the founding of the Qing Dynasty, and they would conquer the rest of China over the next few years. Beijing would remain as the imperial capital for nearly three centuries^[40]. During this era, Beijing was also known as Jingshi, corresponding with the Manchu name Gemun Hecen^[41].

The Qing dynasty was able to maintain and secure a relatively stable and adequate supply of food for the population of the capital city of Beijing during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Qing state played a paramount role in regulating grain distribution and market forces, policing food supplies, and providing relief when necessary, mostly in the form of soup kitchens. The grain tribute system, by which the Qing state acquired grain from other regions of China, was vital in supplying Beijing's population with food. Beijing's food supply and prices during this period, relative to contemporary Paris and London, were stable. The Qing leadership found that providing food security in Beijing helped maintain a degree of political stability.^[42]

Several temple fairs, including the Huguo fair, began to be held in Beijing from the end of the Ming to the mid-Qing dynasty. These temple fairs, different from those organized in commemoration of the spirits, were much more like bazaars and were held every month around the temples. They constituted the most important market network in Beijing in the Qing dynasty. The prosperity of these temple fairs signaled a new stage in the city's commercial history and showed how some of the temples were transformed from sacred to secular space. Both the Qing rulers' attitude toward religion and the city's isolation policy enforced by the Manchus after they occupied Beijing affected the temple fairs' location and development.

UNESCO World Heritage Site of Beijing

The Longevity Hill of the Summer Palace

The Suzhou Street in the Summer Palace

The Qing court in China included dramatic performances to entertain the emperor. These performances were the responsibility of the Nanfu, an office of the imperial household. When Qianlong was emperor (1736-95), the Nanfu had up to a thousand employees, including actors, musicians, and court eunuchs. In 1827, Qianlong's grandson Daoguang changed the name from Nanfu to Shengpingshu, severely downsized the department, and reduced the number of performances. The Shengpingshu thereafter hired civilian Beijing residents and monitored their interactions with other acting troupes. Thus the Shengpingshu took authority over all Beijing drama troupes, keeping a register of all authorized groups, controlling an actor's ability to travel or change troupes, and censoring the scripts of all palace performances. The Shengpingshu continued in the republican period until the expulsion of Puyi, the last emperor, in 1924. Actors were one of many socially debased groups in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties. One reason for their low status was the strong association of theater performers with prostitution. By the late Qing, actors in Beijing had been able to take advantage of political change to improve their status. By the dynasty's end, it was individual behavior rather than professional association that determined their status. ^[43]

The baojia system of local government and surveillance was adopted in 1813 after the rebellion of the Eight Trigrams sect failed to improve social order in the capital. In 1860 British and French forces captured the city after destroying much of the imperial Summer Palace.

In 1898, the Peking University was founded, and the Tsinghua University was founded in 1911.

20th century

Street life in 1900

In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion Beijing was violently conquered and looted by the Eight Power Allied Force. In 1928 Beijing became "Beiping" after the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) moved the national capital to Nanjing, and Beijing therefore lost its status of political center. In late July 1937, Beijing was occupied by the Japanese army until 1945. In late January, 1949 Beijing surrendered to the Communist regime and became the capital city for Mao Zedong.

Boxer rebellion

A large foreign quarter developed in Beijing during the 1800s, where diplomats, missionaries, and other foreigners lived. This section of the city was unsuccessfully besieged by Chinese forces during the Boxer Rebellion in the summer of 1900^[44]. In retaliation, the foreign armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance attacked and looted the city. They also looted and burned the Old Summer Palace.

An attack on Beijing Castle during the Boxer Rebellion.

The Boxer Rebellion and the siege of Beijing of 1900 brought worldwide attention to the city. The Boxers began as an obscure, anti-Christian, antimissionary, and antiforeign peasant movement in northern China. The Empress Dowager Cixi was pleased when Boxers attacked foreigners who were building railroads, exploiting China's mineral wealth, dividing up the port trading concessions, and converting many peasants to an alien faith. In June, 1900, the Boxers invaded the city and slaughtered many Chinese Christians and Westerners. The Chinese government was unable or unwilling to control the situation. Western civilians, military personnel, and Chinese Christians retreated to the legation quarter. For 55 days they survived with limited food and water. In August Western troops occupied the city by force of arms. The Empress Dowager grudgingly agreed to indemnify the Western governments and to make many additional concessions. Subsequent reforms laid the foundation for the end of Manchu rule and the establishment of a modern nation.^[45]

Republic of China

A photo of the crowded Tiananmen Square during the May Fourth Movement, 1919

On 1911 October 10, the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. Beijing remained the capital of this new republic, but political instability in the new government eventually deteriorated into civil war. Beijing became the site of several conflicts between rival warlord factions, changing hands several times over the next two decades. ^[46]

On 1919 May 4, university students in Beijing gathered in Tiananmen Square to protest the foreign occupation of Chinese cities and the failure of Chinese diplomats at the Paris Peace Conference to negotiate the return of these cities at the end of the First World War. These protests began the May Fourth Movement, which would have a profound influence on contemporary Chinese literature and politics.

By 1927, the Chinese Nationalists had established a rival national capital in Nanjing, and by 1928 June 8, the Nationalist Army had taken control of Beijing. The capital of the Republic of China was officially moved to Nanjing, and Beijing was renamed Beiping 北平 (Wade-Giles: Peip'ing) ^[47], or "Northern Peace".^[48]

The Japanese attacked Beiping following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 1937 July 7. They took complete control of the city by July 29^{[48] [49]}, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese created a puppet state to manage the occupied Chinese territories and designated Beiping as its capital. ^[50] This government was latter merged with another Japanese puppet state, the Chinese government of Wang Jingwei, with its capital in Nanjing, although Beiping effectively remained independent of Nanjing until the end of the War^[51].

Beiping reverted to Nationalist control after the Japanese surrender on August 1945. The Nationalists and Chinese Communists were allies during the Sino-Japanese War, but relations between the two rival political parties had disintegrated by June 1946. After two years of fighting, the Communists had gained control over most of northern China, and the Nationalists abandoned Beiping, allowing the Communists to capture the city unchallenged on 1949, January 31.

Rickshaws were more popular in Beijing than in other cities in the 20th century due to the limited public transportation resources, the low cost of rickshaw fares, and the large number of passengers. The poor job market in industry in Beijing caused many unemployed people to become rickshaw pullers. Thus, the pool of rickshaw pullers in Beijing was made up mostly of local residents. A number of descendants of the former royal family of the Qing dynasty also found employment in the rickshaw-pulling trade. The income of rickshaw pullers was not stable; many had to take two shifts a day to support their families.

Modernization

In late Qing China girls' schools were supported by reformers and the reactionary government alike. In post-Boxer China the necessity of change was accepted by the central government and even Cixi, the dowager empress, called for the education of women. But while the government sought educated women who could be "good wives and wise mothers," activists called for varying degrees of female independence and integration in society at large. Many political reformers favored female education as a form of national self-strengthening but all efforts were haunted by concerns over threats to morality. Confucian roots could be found for opposition to footbinding (Beijing girls' schools made unbound feet an entrance requirement) but not for the greater freedom and end to gender segregation called for by some feminists. Generally, female educational reformers in Beijing sought evolutionary changes due to their own links with the current elite.^[52]

The Peking Union Medical College, founded by the Rockefeller Foundation (based in New York) in 1924, set the standard in prewar and wartime China for the training of nurses, but it had a mixed legacy. Its high training standards earned the college a reputation for elitism and inflexibility. Moreover, maintaining strict high standards did little to meet China's acute need for nurses. On the other hand, the college made major inroads into pre- and postnatal nursing, public health nursing, and rural nursing. Moreover, the college played an instrumental role in transforming nursing from a foreign and male-dominated profession into one dominated by female, Chinese nurses.^[53]

The Beijing Police Academy, founded in 1901, was China's first modern institution of police training and also the largest police training center in the late Qing period. The school hired Japanese teachers to undertake most of the teaching and administrative work. The school provided a national useful model for police academies in other major cities and exerted great influence on the development of China's modern police forces.

From early antiquity through the end of the 19th century, the primary missions of Chinese imperial and private libraries were to collect and preserve books and documents. Except for a few isolated historical periods, these libraries rendered no services at all to the public. The Metropolitan University Library in Beijing, founded in 1898, was China's first modern academic library with a clear goal of serving a burgeoning program of public higher education. The library's founding reveals an intriguing story of tension between the modern Western and traditional Chinese concepts of what a library should be.^[54]

City planning

Beijing went from a planned imperial city into a modern metropolis in the early 20th century. The newly created municipal government sought to modernize Beijing through public works to improve the old urban infrastructure. Consequently, city walls and gates were reconfigured; streets were paved, widened, and expanded; and new rules of urban planning and zoning were introduced. Reflecting changes in political power relations, the modernist transformation in the urban built environment was evidently brought about by a combined force of Western influences and Chinese indigenous developments, especially by a shift in ideological allegiance from imperial authority to people's rights, by the state's increasing intervention in urban affairs, and by new technologies transmitted from the West.^[55]

In the early 20th century municipal governments, local gentry, and merchants all contributed to the concept and organization of public parks in Beijing. The idea of the public park as a place where common people could relax in a pastoral setting came to China from the West via Japan. The Beijing municipal council argued that parks would provide wholesome entertainment and thus reduce alcohol use, gambling, and prostitution. Built on sites of former imperial gardens and temples, parks represented modernity and good health and morals. They also provided places for commercial activities and the open exchange of political and social ideas for the middle and upper classes.^[56]

City officials improved public health by promoting better sanitation and health education initiatives. A comparison of living standards and mortality rates among the Qing imperial lineage and the residents of Beijing's First Demonstration Health Station demonstrates the efficacy of projects that provided clean water, sanitation, and education on the proper handling of food and wastes. Even when improvements in the standard of living are considered, public health measures exerted a strong influence over the control of contagion within the general population.^[57]

1920s

Two mass movements erupted in Beijing during October and November 1925: the Movement for Tariff Autonomy and the Capital Revolution. They had different origins and motives. The Movement for Tariff Autonomy drew the participation of thousands of students in its demonstrations against the Special Conference on Customs Tarrifs, an international meeting in October to decide the extent of China's control of its national tariffs. Violent clashes with police transformed this movement into a more radical, Bolshevik-style revolt against local warlord Duan Qirui (1865-1936). The second movement, known as the Capital Revolution, was led by Nationalist Party representative Li Dazhao and involved massive demonstrations, violence, political demands, and the destruction of the offices of one of Beijing's leading newspapers, Chenbao. This student-based revolt was unable to supplant warlord control of the city and disbanded by late November.^[58]

People's Republic of China

On October 1 of the same year, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China at the gates of Tiananmen. The name of Beiping was restored to Beijing, and the city was again designated as the capital of China^[59].

As the capital of the new Communist state, the Communists began a major building campaign to modernize the city. The old city wall encircling the city was demolished and replaced by what is now the 2nd Ring Road^[60]. Some older neighborhoods were also demolished and replaced by modern apartment buildings. Several modern monuments, including the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, and the National Museum of China were completed by 1959. The Mausoleum of Mao Zedong was built much later in 1979.

Cultural revolution

During the late years of the Cultural Revolution decade (1966-76), political life in China was dominated by contention between radical and conservative factions in the Communist Party. Mao Zedong's ambivalence, first supporting one faction and then the other, has long puzzled scholars.

China's Red Guard movement of 1966-68 shows that rapid shifts in the properties of political institutions can alter choices and actors' interests, rapidly transforming the political landscape. New evidence about the origins of the movement in Beijing's universities indicates that factions emerged when activists in similar structural positions made opposed choices in ambiguous contexts. Activists subsequently mobilized to defend earlier choices, binding them to antagonistic factions. Rapid shifts in the contexts for political choice can alter prior connections between social position and interests, generating new motives and novel identities.^[61]

Andreas (2006) argues that factional contention was being institutionalized, creating a system that pitted administrators against rebels: veteran cadres were put in charge of the political and economic bureaucracies, while radicals were given institutional means to mobilize political campaigns against these officials, pressing Mao's radical agenda. Andreas examines in detail the system of governance implemented at Qinghua University in Beijing. Power was divided between veteran university officials and a "workers' propaganda team," composed of workers and soldiers drawn from outside the school, and the propaganda team was charged with mobilizing students and workers to criticize their teachers, supervisors, and university officials. The result was a tumultuous system very much at odds with the conventional practice of ruling Communist parties (including the Chinese Party before the Cultural Revolution), which had been guided by ideals of monolithic unity and a clear hierarchy of authority.^[62]

Beijing was the center of Red Guard activity during the Cultural Revolution. Following the death of the popular Zhou Enlai, frustration with the excesses of the Cultural Revolution precipitated into a spontaneous protest at the Monument to the People's Heroes on 1976 April 5, known as the Tiananmen Incident^[63]. From 1977 until 1979, Beijing was also the site of the Beijing Spring and Democracy Wall Movement, a short-lived easing of political censorship in the city. The Beijing democracy movement (1978-81) constructed a progressive Marxist identity, and its individual participants used it to prove the movement's historical necessity and justify its democratic agenda. Combined with the related identity of socialist citizens, the proponents defended the movement against adversaries from without and the right-wing minority within. The way the movement activists defined their collective identity offered them a progressive Marxist platform to champion their cause. This collective identity not only precluded confrontational opposition to the Communist Party, it enabled a more constructive use of both classical Marxist and Western democratic thinking in the movement's agenda.^[64]

Tiananmen Square

On May 4, 1989, students from Beijing area universities began gathering in Tiananmen Square to publicly mourn the recent death Hu Yaobang, an ambitious political reformer and the former Secretary-General of the Chinese Communist Party. Over the next few days, the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 would attract many thousands of protesters from throughout Beijing society. The protests were dispersed by force by the People's Liberation Army on 1989 June 4.

Explosive growth

The 1990s and the start of the new millennium were a period of rapid economic growth in Beijing. Following the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping, what was once farmland surrounding the city was developed into new residential and commercial districts^[65]. Modern expressways and high-rise buildings were built throughout the city to accommodate the growing and increasingly affluent population of the city. Foreign investment transformed Beijing into one of the most cosmopolitan and prosperous cities in the world.

Environment

Rapid modernization and population growth thus created numerous problems associated with heavy industry such as heavy traffic, pollution, the destruction of historic neighborhoods, and a large population of impoverished migrant workers from the countryside. By early 2005, the city government attempted to control urban sprawl by restricting development to two semicircular bands to the west and east of the city center, instead of the concentric rings of suburbs that had been built in the past ^[66].

The rapid growth of population, motor vehicles and factories has created high polluation levels. Days with gray, acrid skies, with an eye-reddening pollution score over 400, are common, as health officials advise wearing masks and staying indoors. Heavy trucks are allowed in only at night but their diesel fuels create much of the problem. By 2008 for the city’s 12 million residents, pollution was not only an inescapable health and quality-of-life issue, but a political issue tied in with the Summer Olympics scheduled for August 2008. The city's bid for the 2000 Olympics in 1993 failed partly because of high pollution levels, and in response the city began a massive cleanup campaign. That campaign has been successful in terms of 2000 standards, but the city's economy is 2.5 times larger now, with millions more people. Over 3 million cars and trucks clog the streets, and 400,000 more are added annually as the wealth shoots up rapidly. Old dirty, coal-burning furnaces have been replaced, lowering the city’s sulfur dioxide emissions. Factories and power plants were changed to burn cleaner, low-sulfur coal; sulfur dioxide emissions fell by 25% 2001-2007, even though much more coal is burned, reaching 30 million tons in 2006. Furthermore, fine-particle pollution has been exacerbated by a staggering citywide construction program which saw more than 160 million square meters (1.7 billion square feet) of new construction begun 2002-2007. Athletes may have some breathing problems, but in the long-run air quality is expected to remain a critical issue as the city grows to a projected population of 20 million.^[67]

2008 Olympics

Beijing hosted the Olympic Games in August of 2008. Several landmark sports venues, such as the Beijing National Stadium or the "Bird's Nest", were built for these games^[68].

See also

• Rebellion of Cao Qin

References

Bibliography

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• Broudehoux, Anne-Marie. The Making and Selling of Post-Mao Beijing (2004) online edition
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• Dong, Madeleine Yue. Republican Beijing: The City and Its Histories (2003) excerpt and text search
• Li, Lillian; Dray-Novey, Alison; Kong, Haili (2007). Beijing: From Imperial Capital to Olympic City. New York, New York, United States: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1403964734. 
• Elliott, Mark C. (2001). The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China. Palo Alto, California, United States: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804746842. http://books.google.com/books?id=_qtgoTIAiKUC&printsec=frontcover. 
• Geiss, James. "Beijing under the Ming (1368-1644)," Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1979.
• Gaubatz, Piper. "Changing Beijing." Geographical Review 1995 85(1): 79-96. Issn: 0016-7428 Fulltext: in Jstor; online edition
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• Naquin, Susan. Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400-1900. U. of California Press, 2000. 816 pp. excerpt and text search
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• Song, Weijie. "Mapping Modern Beijing: A Literary and Cultural Topography, 1900s-1950s." PhD dissertation Columbia U. 2006. 301 pp. DAI 2006 67(4): 1346-A. DA3213600 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Weston, Timothy B. The Power of Position: Beijing University, Intellectuals, and Chinese Political Culture, 1898-1929. 2004. 325 pp excerpt and text search; complete edition online
• Xu, Yamin. "Wicked Citizens and the Social Origins of China's Modern Authoritarian State: Civil Strife and Political Control in Republican Beiping, 1928-1937." PhD dissertation U. of California, Berkeley 2002. 573 pp. DAI 2003 64(2): 613-A. DA3082468 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• MacKerras, Colin; Yorke, Amanda (1991). The Cambridge Handbook of Contemporary China. Cambridge, England, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521387558. http://books.google.com/books?id=yiq_f71uXboC&printsec=frontcover&dq=beiping+beijing&source=gbs_summary_r. 
• Zhu, Jianfei. Chinese Spatial Strategies: Imperial Beijing, 1420-1911 (2003) online edition

Primary sources

• Gamble, Sidney David, ed. Peking: A Social Survey (1921) 514 pages; study by American social scienctists full text online

Maps

• online historical maps from Perry-Castañeda Library

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